Fighting Foreclosure Together

Some Occupiers just want the banks to act more reasonably; others
want to abolish capitalism. Most cruise to meetings on two wheels;
others hate bike lanes. In Minneapolis, as in places across the United
States, Occupy Our Homes has brought union members, anarchists, lawyers,
grassroots organizers, democrats and veterans all under the same roof,
united by a common goal of saving homeowners from eviction and full
neighborhoods from displacement. They might not all share the same
vision of utopia, but housing justice work is demonstrating that, for
today’s era of activism, humanity can trump ideology.

Last Saturday, more than 25 community members celebrated with Monique White, a resident of north Minneapolis, who had recently won a new mortgage from US Bank.
They were all packed into White’s small kitchen, eating spiced chicken
legs barbecued by Bobby Hull, a homeowner and Marines veteran from south
Minneapolis who had won back his own home three months earlier.

“If anyone needs to use my bathroom, it’s—” Monique White began to
say, then stopped herself. The crowd laughed; everyone in the room not
only knew where her bathroom was, they’d slept on her living room floor,
marched with her to US Bank, sat beside her in court and helped water
the cabbage in her backyard, which White planted a mere two weeks before
her scheduled eviction.

“If the United Nations says housing is a human right, and people are in need and
there are a plethora of homes, then there is a disconnect here.”

The seven-month campaign brought together activists and community
members across entrenched and often irreconcilable political and
ideological lines, unifying those pushing for a complete overhaul of the
capitalist system with those advocating for reform such as widespread
principal reduction. The coalition itself is no small victory.
Nationally, various housing campaigns can be divided on strategies and
goals, with some groups focusing on home takeovers to radically redefine
land control and ownership, while others advocate for mortgage
renegotiations as a first step to reigning in the banks.

In Minneapolis, the organizing strategy has thus far fallen into the
latter camp, with both Hull and White winning renegotiated mortgages.
But the campaigns have relied on the work of people with a diversity of
ideological positions.

“I’m not a huge advocate of private property,” said an organizer who
asked to be called T.K. He missed the barbeque at Monique White’s house,
not because he didn’t support the victory but because he was helping
coordinate a 24-hour eviction defense at Occupy our Homes’ newest
campaign: Alejandra and David Cruz’s foreclosed house across town.

“If the United Nations says housing is a human right, and people are in need and
there are a plethora of homes, then there is a disconnect here,” he
said. “At that point, in my mind, private property is invalidated by the
human need.”

The Cruz family is asking for a renegotiation with PNC Bank—a
demand that, as T.K. said, “doesn’t challenge capitalism.” Yet he and
the rest of the eviction defense team are still willing to put their
bodies on the line in what many believe to be the first hard-lockdown
eviction defense since Occupy began.

“Historically, revolutions happen when a series of reforms are won, and
it’s not good enough. From that momentum comes total change.”

As at White’s house, the Cruz family’s home is a space of unity and
coalition-building. Direct-action activists defend the house around the
clock. Labor groups supply copious brown paper bag lunches. Faith groups
like the church across the street are reaching out to their
congregations. Neighbors up and down the block display signs demanding
an end to foreclosure on their front lawns. Even the house itself speaks
of the team’s willingness to pursue multiple paths to win: Directly
above a lockdown barrel on the front steps that will physically prevent
the police from carrying out the Cruz’s furniture hangs a sign that
says, “Negotiations, Not Evictions.”

Occupy our Homes Minneapolis is now looking to spread to tenants and
underwater homeowners who are not yet in default in order to break down
the stark class divisions of housing and build a unified coalition. Some
members, inspired by Take Back the Land,
are also looking at the possibility of home takeovers. Even more
broadly, Occupy Our Homes has partnered with the city’s large Somali and
Latino communities because they all share a common enemy: the big
banks.

Last Friday, hundreds marched through the streets to protest Wells
Fargo. Women clad in full burqas carried signs declaring that they had
closed their accounts because Wells Fargo blocks money transfers to Somalia.
Spanish-speakers denounced the bank for investing in private prison
corporations whose lobbyists are behind some of the worst
anti-immigration laws, such as Arizona’s SB 1070. Union members wearing
orange vests screen-printed with the words “Labor’s Back” blocked
traffic for the non-permitted march. Alejandra Cruz and other Mexicans
led the march after performing a traditional Aztec dance. Behind them
was a large Occupy Our Homes banner.

“For me, coalition building around issues is the best way to get shit
done,” said Rachel E. B. Lang, the lawyer who worked on Monique White’s
case and has been involved in Occupy Minneapolis since the beginning.
“Historically, revolutions happen when a series of reforms are won, and
it’s not good enough. From that momentum comes total change.”

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Laura Gottesdiener is an activist with Occupy Wall Street, a
freelance journalist, and a contributor to Waging Nonviolence, where this article first appeared.